61. Thank you for this

This is the first post about the country on here that has some sort of truth in it. My boyfriend is from Venezuela and just returned from a trip there on Sunday. His family was always middle-class (his dad served in the Venezuelan military for his whole life).

Chavez was the worst possible thing to happen to that country. All of you who say he was voted in democratically have no idea the extent to which his people went to influence the vote in the last election. When he was falling behind, the administration started calling the poorer families that hasn't voted yet and threatening to take away their homes, cars, etc, if they didn't go vote for Chavez. There was an uproar that got silenced because the government should not have had the information about who had voted, but they did.

Also, the situation there has become dire. People are kidnapped not for money, but for groceries. Prostitution is rampant. And to the person with the article posted, you are wrong.

Before anyone gets on the soap box to think that this will become an Obama plot for oil or something, witness the celebrations happening in Venezuela today.

And to you who say the rich we're behind the opposing factions - everyone was for them. The "rich" aren't rich anymore because Chavez has destroyed the economy for everyone who is not right along with him. You opposed him, he destroyed you.